Inez and Forge: Sifting through the wreckage

[x-desperado.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Sunday night

When Forge comes back to check on the Blackbird project, he finds that most of the heavy lifting's been done.



"Well, it seems you've been busy," Forge said as he leaned on a broken support strut from the Blackbird's wreck. Using the strut like a cane, he made his way through the sorted piles of twisted metal, carbon-fiber polymer panels, jumbles of wire and circuitry, and warped plastic. The majority of the piles were marked with red chalk or flags - unsalvageable trash. Forge scowled to himself, more thoughts of vicious revenge crossing his mind for what the Brotherhood had done to his, no, the jet.

Inez leaned against the wall, buffing her fingernails idly against her shirt. "Yeah, well. You told me to sort it, I sorted it. Most of it's a lot lighter than it looks, I only had to get some help from Marko for a few of the pieces that I think were part of the... I dunno, spine? The big long metal parts that got all twisty."

"Fuselage," Forge corrected, noting the parts that Inez was talking about. "Okay, most of these struts are good if we cut out the strained parts. See here where you can tell how the striations in the metal aren't parallel? That means that section of the metal's useless. The rest, though, good to go."

"Stri-what? Oh, the little lines?" Inez squinted at the metal beam, holding the massive chunk of metal up to the light. "Um, you know my vision's not... well..."

"You wear contacts," Forge interrupted with a smile. "I used to wear glasses, I know how it is. Relax, you've been a big help. So you're not one for fine detail work. You've been great with the heavy lifting."

Inez blushed slightly, then cleared her throat to try and compose herself. "I suppose it keeps me from being bored, y'know? Ms. Frost keeps me busy, but when there's no school here, nothing else to do... I don't have a lot of hobbies or anything."

Tapping his makeshift cane against the floor, Forge thought for a moment. "Has anyone talked to you about Red-X? It's a Red Cross adjunct specializing in training mutants for humanitarian aid, disaster relief, that kind of stuff."

Inez shrugged. "Heard about it. Maybe."

Forge moved forward slowly, pausing to take another drink of water and a few deep breaths before poking at another pile of parts. "It's good work. There's something about helping people that's its own reward."

"Meaning that you don't get paid," Inez interpreted with a smirk. "It's kind of like the stuff you do with the X-Men, yo. Possibly dangerous, I mean. You got hurt pretty bad, didn't you?"

Stopping his perusal of the wreck, Forge closed his eyes and leaned on the strut for support. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Just some lingering bruises and stuff that'll heal in time."

"I heard you nearly got killed," Inez prodded, climbing up on top of one of the larger piles to look down at Forge. She didn't know him well at all, but he seemed way too tired to be healthy.

"I'm fine!" the inventor shouted, slamming the cane against the ground angrily. "I don't need everyone treating me like a goddamn invalid! My brain still works fine, and that means I can get to work doing what's needed."

Inez held up her hands in surrender. "I'm not sayin' anything," she drawled. "You just keep that brain of yours intact. Just point out what you need me to carry."

Forge composed himself, shaking his head. "Sorry," he apologized. "Shouldn't have yelled at you. It's not your fault. It's just going to take a while before I'm able to get back out there with the team. Before I'm ready."

"Well, like you said, you've got work you can do here, right?" Inez said, sliding down the pile and punching Forge lightly in the shoulder. "Come on, we'll be a team. Brains and brawns, yo?"

Smiling, Forge nodded. "Beauty and the beast, more like it."

Inez blinked, her jaw dropping. "You did not just call me a beast."

"Only in comparison. I am pretty awesome," Forge explained with an impish grin. Inez folded her arms and gave a mock pout.

"No way you're prettier than me."

"Little bit, yeah."